A World at War
by RedReader1
Summary: December 1941, The United States has just entered the war. Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles will do anything to ensure a Nazi defeat, each in their own way...


**_Prologue_**

1. Life As We Know It  
Jane picked her way through the busy streets of Boston's North End. They were filled with an influx of young men to the city. The United States had officially entered the war.  
In the early morning hours of December 7th, Japanese forces attacked the American naval station at Pearl Harbor. Reports of the attack arrived just before midday on the east coast and made the front pages of every evening paper. With news of the Japanese strike on the United States came the flood of men into Boston from the surrounding areas ready to enlist and fight.

She pulled her jacket closer to her trying to ward of the chill as she navigated through a sea of bodies. The weather had been cold and overcast for several days, snow flurries falling frequently. Men in their newly issued uniforms were everywhere. They stood outside restaurants, bars and cafés. They filled drugstores and movie theaters. The polite men offered her smiles, the braver of the men asked for dates, the outrageously brazen asked for sex. Some had even proposed to her right there on the street, she usually found those men the most annoying.  
The crowd thinned as she turned of the main thoroughfare onto the street in which she lived. She was greeted by the scent of dinner as she came through the door.

"Janie, is that you?" Her mother, Angela Rizzoli, called from the kitchen.

"Yeah Ma, it's me," she responded as hung her coat on the hook beside the door.

There were five hooks, one for each Rizzoli. Once the weather cooled you would always know who was home, by which coat occupied a hook. Her mother's coat was only one there. Her father was probably still at work. Frank Rizzoli was a plumber, and winter was the busy season. Along with the usual drainage issues, winter added frozen pipes bursting and hot water heater malfunctions to the mix. Frank Rizzoli barely saw his family during winter. And that was fine with him, he preferred being able be with his family when the weather permitted for outdoor activities, such as ball games or picnicking on The Commons. The likelihood of him being for dinner tonight would be rare.  
There was no coat on her brother Frankie's hook; he wouldn't be home tonight or tomorrow. He had enlisted in the Marines two years ago at the start of the war in Europe and was currently in the Marine's Officer Candidate School. He was hand picked due to the fact he was at best of his recruitment class and he fluent in Italian.  
The last unadorned hook belonged to the youngest Rizzoli, Tommy. At sixteen, Tommy loved two things in this world, having fun and having fun with girls. Tommy was wild, immature and unpredictable. She could only guess where he was at this moment.

Jane entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Angela stood at the same counter making gnocchi. Her hands moved effortlessly forming the dough from years of practice. Jane leaned against the counter. She loved watching her mother in the kitchen. It reminded her when she was younger and she and her mother would talk about her day while she cooked dinner. Sometimes Jane would help, other times she would sit and observe, it was their time to reconnect each day. She wondered why they had stopped. When did her life become too busy for her family.

"Hi, honey how was work," Angela asked.

She said the word work as if left a bad taste in her mouth. Her daughter didn't have a husband and babies;she had a job. Not only did she have a job, but she had a job where there were plenty of eligible men. After four years her daughter had yet to bring one of them home.

"It was fine. We had a lost little girl today. Luckily we found her before anything worse than being scared happened. Have you heard from Frankie yet?" Jane reached for the cookie jar only to have her her hand slapped away.

"Don't, you'll spoil your dinner. And no I haven't heard from your brother. I just worry that they'll ship him overseas before I can even talk to him or even see him."

"Don't worry, Ma. We'll hear from him soon."

Jane moved closer to her mother, their shoulders touching imperceptibly and began dropping morsels ov dough into the boiling water. Working in companionable silence, their conversation for all intents and purpose was over.

Maura Isles sat at a lighted mirror. Lakmé's Flower Duet played in the background. She tunelessly hummed along as she applied lipstick. She turned her head from side to side checking her makeup for blemishes. With her concentration fixed on her task the world around her dissolved into moving shades. Surrounding her there were women in different states of undress speaking to each other, stage hands running back and forth with props, and a stage manager who appeared every few minutes to call for the next act. In the midst of this organized chaos sat Maura Isles. She wore a flesh colored body suit a sparkling red heels. At the breasts and groin shiny red appliqué hearts were affixed adding to the illusion of her nudity. A meaty hand gently rested on her shoulder, it belonged to a man of intimidating size.

"Celine, it's time," he said.

With that Maura Isles regally put on her feathered headdress, collected large feathered fans, and went to put on a show.


End file.
